Oakland Athletics left fielder Coco Crisp makes a leaping catch on a ball hit by Detroit Tigers' Prince Fielder during the second inning of Game 3 of an American League division baseball series Tuesday in Oakland, Calif.AP

Athletics 2, Tigers 0

OAKLAND, Calif. — Coco Crisp saved a likely home run, and Oakland's season for at least one more game.

If the center fielder had any lingering frustration about that two-run error that dearly cost Oakland in Game 2, this might have erased it.

Crisp made a spectacular leaping catch at the top of the center-field wall to rob Prince Fielder, and that was just one in a handful of defensive gems by the Athletics to back Brett Anderson in a 2-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday night.

The A's cut their deficit in the best-of-five AL division series to 2-1.

Anderson outdueled fellow postseason first-timer Anibal Sanchez and the upstart A's showed off stellar defense all over the diamond to avoid another playoff sweep by Detroit.

"Robbed home runs are good," Anderson posted on Twitter late Tuesday.

"You see him hit it and you just kind of put your head down a little bit because you think you just gave up a homer," Anderson said. "Then you see him plow through there and catch the ball and it kind of kick starts you to go out there and make pitches."

Yoenis Cespedes hit an RBI single in the first inning and Seth Smith homered in the fifth. That was plenty on a night Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera, Fielder and the Tigers' high-priced offense were shut down by the low-budget A's.

Tigers 16-game winner Max Scherzer will try to close out the series in Game 4 Wednesday night against A's rookie A.J. Griffin. Detroit swept the A's in the 2006 AL championship series.

Fielder was the biggest victim of Oakland's spot-on defense, robbed three times. First by Crisp, Oakland's most experienced player whose blunder on Cabrera's fly allowed two runs to score in a 5-4 loss Sunday in Detroit.

"Not to be all over-confident or anything, I think I'm going to catch everything out there," Crisp said. "Obviously it doesn't happen that way — duh Detroit, right?"

Giants 2, Reds 1

CINCINNATI — Joaquin Arias hit the ball, put his head down and ran. All he knew was that the Giants' season depended upon how fast he made it to first.

"That's the fastest I've ever run to first," the infielder said.

He won the playoff dash, taking advantage of third baseman Scott Rolen's momentary bobble to beat the throw. Arias' foot hit the bag, and the Giants suddenly had a little hope.

After managing only one hit through the first nine innings, the Giants took advantage of a passed ball and Rolen's error in the 10th inning for a 2-1 victory that cut the Cincinnati Reds' lead in the division series to 2-1.

A team that's struggled just to get hits is suddenly feeling like it has a chance against long odds. The Giants are trying to become the first team to overcome a 2-0 deficit in a best-of-five series by winning three straight on the road.

"I think we have to be really happy that we came away with a win tonight because we didn't swing the bats very well at all," said Buster Posey, who singled as part of the winning rally.

The Giants have struggled the last two games against Bronson Arroyo and Homer Bailey, managing a total of three hits in the starters' 14 innings combined. They're not sure who's up next for the Reds, who haven't won a home playoff game in 17 years and now have a tough decision.

Left-hander Barry Zito will pitch Game 4 on Wednesday for San Francisco, which has won the last 11 times he started. The Reds had to decide whether to try ace Johnny Cueto, forced out of the opener in San Francisco on Saturday with spasms in his back and side.

Manager Dusty Baker said after the game that they hadn't decided whether to go with Cueto, bring back Mat Latos on short rest again, or replace Cueto with Mike Leake, who wasn't on the division series roster.

Switching out Cueto would leave the Reds ace ineligible to pitch in the championship series should the Reds get that far.

"It's very difficult, but it all depends on if your ace can't go or whatever it is," Baker said. "That's part of the conversation — us going without him. We realize what's at stake."

They were hoping to avoid having to make that choice. One grounder forced the issue.

The Giants managed only three hits against Bailey and the bullpen, but got two of them in the 10th — along with a passed ball by Ryan Hanigan — to pull it out. San Francisco won despite striking out 16 times.

Rolen, an eight-time Gold Glove winner, couldn't cleanly field Arias' grounder, which put him in a tough position.

"I've gone through the play many times in my mind between then and now, and I think I would play it the same way," Rolen said. "It hit my glove. I just couldn't get it to stick."